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Agamemnon seen glancingly through Hesiod's readers

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The Catalogue of Women was a rich epic treatment of famous and heroic women of antiquity. Attributed to Hesiod, only fragments have come down to us, mainly via mentions by a slew of ancient writers. The book was apparently known at least through the Hellenistic age and even in Byzantine times.

Clytaemnestra and Iphigeneia
Louis Billotey
Among the fragments one finds tantalizing tidbits that offer some background and depth to the story of Tyndareus, how he brokered the marriage of Helen, who among the great Greeks of the day sought to woo her, why Achilles was not the obvious choice (he was too young at the time), why Menelaos won out, and why Tyndareus's daughters both betrayed their husbands. 

Whether actually by Hesiod or no, the fragments have the flavor of learned epic gossip, rich in lore, serving to satisfy those who love all the ancient tales and are full of questions. For those curious about the tale of Helen, the poet has answers. Ovid clearly was in his debt.

For the Helen story, see fragments 67-70.


Fifth-Dynasty Tomb Discovered in Saqqara

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Saqqara priest tombCAIRO, EGYPT—Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, announced the discovery of a 4,400-year-old tomb in Saqqara, according to a Live Science report. The intact tomb measures 33 feet long and about 10 feet wide. The well-preserved decorations depict the owner of the tomb, a royal purification priest named Wahtye, in scenes with his mother, wife, and other relatives making pottery and wine, and practicing religious observances. They are also represented by large, colorful statues placed in niches. Other scenes on the walls show musical performances, boats, the manufacture of the tomb’s funerary furniture, and hunting. Waziri said the tomb’s five burial shafts will be excavated. To read about the recent discovery of a type of ancient funeral parlor at Saqqara, go to “Mummy Workshop.”

Prehistoric Stone Circle Studied in Scotland

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ABERDEENSHIRE, SCOTLAND—The Press and Journal reports that a complete stone circle located on farmland in northeastern Scotland has been studied by archaeologists for the first time. Made up of ten stones in total, the circle features a horizontal stone, known as the recumbent, which is flanked by two upright stones. Estimated to be between 3,500 and 4,500 years old, the circle is about ten feet smaller in diameter than other circles in the region. The stones are proportionally smaller as well, according to Adam Welfare of Historic Environment Scotland. To read in-depth about excavations of remains in Scotland dating to the same period, go to “Neolithic Europe's Remote Heart.”

Earthquake Damage Detected in Machu Picchu

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Machu Picchu earthquakeCUSCO, PERU—According to a report in The Peruvian Times, an earthquake estimated to have occurred around A.D. 1450 left lasting signs of damage on Machu Picchu’s Temple of the Sun and other buildings under construction during the reign of the Ninth Inca Pachacutec. “We see openings between rocks and stones, which is not typical of the Incas because they employed an impeccable, perfect construction,” said Carlos Benavente of the Cusco-Pata Research Project. “Some edges of the rocks are broken, which means that in the undulation of the earth, they hit each other, which caused the breaks.” Benavente then said that the architects changed tactics after the earthquake, and began building in trapezoidal shapes with giant stone blocks at the base of walls that narrowed at the top. He thinks the Incas stayed in the earthquake zone despite the dangers because the fissures in the earth also carried water. “They preferred to improve the structural conditions of their homes rather than move away from the water resource,” he explained. To read in-depth about Inca hydraulic engineering, go to “The Water Temple of Inca-Caranqui.”

Denmark’s Domesticated Cats Grew Larger Over Time

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cat domestication sizeCOPENHAGEN, DENMARK—Science Magazine reports that unlike most domesticated animals, cats have grown larger while adapting to life with humans. As a student at the University of Copenhagen, Julie Bitz-Thorsen and her adviser, archaeozoologist Anne Birgitte Gotfredsen, carefully examined and measured cat bones in museum collections found at Iron Age, Viking, and medieval sites in Denmark. The Viking-era cat bones, recovered from pits where their bodies had been dumped, bear marks suggesting the animals were skinned for their pelts, in addition to being raised for their pest-control abilities. Overall, the data suggests that on average, domesticated cats are about 16 percent larger today that they were in the Viking era. The researchers think expanding towns during the medieval period may have produced more waste, which attracted more pests, and provided cats with more food. Future studies could analyze cat DNA and look for chemical signatures of dietary changes. To read about mummification of animals in ancient Egypt, go to “Messengers to the Gods.”

Think Like a Caveman, You Might End up Like one

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'Only interested in nature' (read article)
An infamous Italian veterinarian and hunter, who found fame last year due to photos of him posing with a lion he had killed recently, slipped on ice and fell 100 feet to his death while hunting.[...] Ponzetto caused a lot of anger across the internet back in November of 2015, after a series of photos he posted online that showed him posing with trophy kills [...] Until he died, Ponzetto constantly defended his hobby, saying that veterinary work was not incompatible with hunting, neither in a moral sense or in a professional sense [...] He stated that he had done nothing wrong and that he was being criticized by people who do not know him. He claimed that he always loved his work and he has always loved animals no matter what. ['Infamous Lion Hunter Slipped And Fell 100 Feet To His Death During Hunt', Disclose TV, Dec 13 2018]
'Only interested in the history' (think sbout it)
So, that's a bit like all those idiot metal detectorists who claim that they are interested in history, while being engaged in a hobby that simply destroys the historical record in the hunt for trophy items ('a piece of past in your hand'), By digging into archaeological sites and assemblages and selectively removing evidence and not recording its exact associations and internal patterning of the assemblage of which it forms a part (context), the artefact hunter is destroying the evidence in the hunt for trophy items.   And no amount of wrong-headed pseudo-justifications from the Ixelles Six academics or anyone else will change that fact.


Balangiga Bells back in Philippines after 117 years

One for the Christmas Stocking for Collectors

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Greenlight publishing
STAMPS IDENTIFIED  Is a new fully illustrated book for collectors by Steve Leaky and Tyler Lieuliss of the Philatelic Association of Scotland. This fully illustrated edition is a must-have for every enthusiast. Possibly the most comprehensive stamp identification book ever published. The PAS team have spent years collating, identifying and photographing stamps from the very first issues of 1840  through to the 20th century, and for the first time, this book pulls together a selection of the most interesting items in one beautiful volume. Lavishly illustrated with thousands of photographs, this book not only helps to identify the stamps but puts them in context and offers detailed information on each one. This book is organised on a thematic basis with similar types of objects being placed together, rather than separated by period. This will allow readers to see how stamp types changed over time with the introduction of new materials, techniques and styles. The book is a bit pricey when similar information can be found on the Internet for free, but of its £30.00 cover price, £3.00 will be donated to the Philatelic Association of Scotland to help them in their very important typological work. The book is published by Greenlight Publishing, publishers of many general and specialist philatelic catalogues and Stamp Hunting Magazine.

Stamp typology is the key
The Philatelic Association of Scotland is a partnership project involving at least 119 national and local collectors' organizations and philatelic trade publishers who have come together to help deliver the Association's aims. Thousands of stamp collections are created by  members of the public every year. If properly catalogued and displayed, these stamps have great potential to transform philatelic knowledge on the types and varieties of these objects that are in existence and can be used to update the catalogues. The Philatelic Association offers the only proactive mechanism for recording such finds, which are made publicly available on its online database (neither collectors' names, nor the present location of the collections, however, are revealed). A primary aim of the PAS is to get as many people as possible engaged in the wholesome hobby of stamp collecting and fighting the atavistic tendency of some to see postal history as the real aim of philately.

Here is just a selection of the many useful books out there for those collectors wanting to identify the old stamps they find:

 (Note the nationalist overtones of some of them)


 

Egyptian archaeologists unearth tomb of ancient high priest

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Egyptian archaeologists have discovered the tomb of a priest dating back more than 4,400 years in the pyramid complex of Saqqara south of the capital Cairo, authorities said Saturday. Painted statues and wall reliefs in tomb of Wahtye [Credit: Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters]"Today we are announcing the last discovery of the year 2018, it's a new discovery, it's a private tomb," Antiquities Minister Khaled el-Enany told an audience of...

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Le attualità della formazione ProfilCultura

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le-attualita-della-formazione-profilcultura

Profilcultura presenta le ultime novità nel campo della formazione: i master dedicati alla cultura, le business school, i corsi di Palazzo Spinelli Group, Firenze Creative City 2019, la Scuola Universitaria Europea per il Turismo e tanti altri!

Satellite data exposes looting

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More than 2,500 years ago, horse riding nomads expanded their cultural realm throughout the Eurasian steppe from Southern Siberia to Eastern Europe. These tribes had in common, that they buried their dead in large burial mounds often together with elaborate golden jewellery and weapons of superior craftsmanship. Most of the organic materials are lost forever, but objects made from metals survive the millennia. Often made from bronze...

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Report della presentazione dei risultati di WeAct3 – La Tecnologia per Arte, Cultura, Turismo, Territorio

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report-della-presentazione-dei-risultati-di-weact3-la-tecnologia-per-arte-cultura-turismo-territorio

Giovedì 13 dicembre 2018 si è svolta a Palazzo Barberini la presentazione dei risultati di WeAct3 – La Tecnologia per Arte, Cultura, Turismo, Territorio. Il progetto nasce dalla stretta collaborazione tra le Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica e l’Associazione Civita, con l’adesione di 11 partner privati italiani con oltre 20 specializzazioni differenti.

New study on cognitive archaeology and tactile responses to the lithic industry

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The Paleoneurobiology group of the Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), led by Emiliano Bruner, has just published, in collaboration with the Museo de la Evolución Humana (MEH) in Burgos and the company Sociograph from Valladolid, a new paper on cognitive archaeology in which the hand-tool relationship is studied, analyzing the geometry of the tools, the grasp of the hand, and the electrical responses of...

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Call for Papers (CCC 2019)

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28.02.2019: [PANEL 1] What’s (new) in a name.

Hun Sen defends heritage site evictions


2018.12.36: Jerusalem zwischen Aachen und Bagdad: Zur Existenzkrise des byzantinischen Christentums im Abbasidenreich. Jenaer mediävistische Vorträge, 6

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Review of Nestor Kavvadas, Jerusalem zwischen Aachen und Bagdad: Zur Existenzkrise des byzantinischen Christentums im Abbasidenreich. Jenaer mediävistische Vorträge, 6​. Stuttgart: 2017. Pp. 116. €29,00. ISBN 9783515118798.

2018.12.37: Oscar Wilde and Classical Antiquity

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Review of Kathleen Riley, Alastair Blanshard, Iarla Manny, Oscar Wilde and Classical Antiquity. Oxford, New York: 2018. Pp. xviii, 382. $100.00. ISBN 9780198789260.

2018.12.38: The Horse in Ancient Greek Art

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Review of Peter Schertz, Nicole Stribling, The Horse in Ancient Greek Art. Middleburg: 2017. Pp. v, 145. $30.00 (pb). ISBN 9780996890533.

Happy Birthday to Joyce Reynolds

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The Faculty is delighted to wish Joyce Reynolds, who turns 100 on 18 December 2018, a Very Happy Birthday!

An 'Alien' Detectorist, A Vanished Detectorist and A Lost Minerva Statue Found Masquerading as Flora

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Minerva boxed as Flora
Len Jackman's been hunting for buried treasure for 20 years and now he's found a priceless statuette (Jayne Fryer, 'Bleep bleep! I've detected a real national treasure: Daily Mail 17 December 2018). Len is a metal detectorist.
Ms Fry saw the comedy show 'Detectorists' and cannot get it out of her mind, the whole article is framed around it:
there is an entire metal-detecting community out there. ‘The programme is very, very true to form,’ says Len. So there are websites, Facebook groups, YouTube channels (Len’s personal favourite is iDetect, by a chap called Harry which has over 28,000 subscribers) and two dedicated magazines, The Searcher and Treasure Hunting.

Twenty-eight thousand? Sounds a bit like Hardy's estimate for the number of detectorists in England and Wales. Hmmm. Anyhow, as Ms Fryer notes, there are a lot of people doing Collection-Driven Exploitation of the Archaeological Record, and decontextualising millions of objects from the archaeological record. While some six academics have recently produced the object-centred assertion that pilfering archaeological evidence from sites with metal detectors and spades is not a form of damage ("In order to be considered 'cultural damage', a find and/or its associated information would have to be irretrievably lost."), they are quite obviously wrong. Anyhow, back to the hero of this story:
For more than 20 years now, Len Jackman, 66, has been searching for buried treasure. Every day, come rain, sun, sleet or storms, he buckles on his knee pads, pops on his collecting pouch and wellies and picks up his coffee flask, lunch box, spade and his trusty Minelab Equinox metal detector, complete with customised carbon fibre shaft for better handling. He then waves his wife Denise farewell and heads out into the fields surrounding his home near Witney, Oxfordshire. And there he’ll be for the next few hours, walking up and down the furrowed fields, his £600 gadget swooping backwards and forwards, headphones on and ears cocked and straining for the magical bleep, bleep, bleep of ancient buried gold.  Which, mostly, has proved rather elusive.
But, as attendees at the Treasure report launch know, Mr Jackman instead 'came across a 2,000-year-old Roman figure sitting in a large Flora margarine tub'. 
It all started last December when Len was hunting a new stretch of fields near his home. He was chatting to the landowner who then showed him a small broken statuette, found on the land 15 years earlier by a fellow detectorist, dismissed as a copy, dumped in the Flora tub, and left in a room off the kitchen [...]  when, six months later, he’d unearthed a few bits and bobs himself, he asked the farmer if he could take her along with his own hoard, to be identified and dated at the Museum Resource Centre in nearby Standlake [...] The minute the expert saw it, she was on the phone, one thing led to another and, last week, Len and Denise were up at dawn to attend the big unveiling ceremony at the British Museum.
It is interesting to note that nothing is being said about the several bits of this item having been found  in c. 2003 (NB right in the middle of the 'foot and mouth' outbreak when people were discouraged from going into the countryside) by someone that had been hoiking some fields and getting out substantial metal items like this one and not reporting them (there was no Oxford FLO until 2003). Fifteen years later, Mr Jackman is going over the same area and taking out what was left behind - how many other detectorists have 'done' this area over in the meantime? Where are all these finds? A search of the PAS database for Roman finds made in 2003 shows there are none from even remotely near Whitney. This is exactly what the Heritage Action Artefact Erosion Counter is telling s about. One item survived, because the landowner took it and curated it, what the metal detectorist walked off with in 2003 went into his collection, and thence... a skip headed towards the landfill, a car boot sale maybe, perhaps bought up as a bulk lot and then used to 'seed' a field prior to a commercial artefact hunting rally maybe? But it seems that very little of it entered the PAS database. It's all hidden from the public, whose heritage this is.
 like many detectorists, Len is rightly obsessive about secrecy. His number is ex-directory. He makes me promise not to divulge the name of his village, or include photos of his car, in case he’s followed. The location of the Minerva is top secret and must remain so. He even has a detectoring alias: ‘Alien.’ ‘Last week, a drone was following me!’ he says. ‘You have to be careful.’
Careful indeed that sweet lady journalists who you've sworn to secrecty does not write a caption like the one in the Mail: 'The Romano-British statuette of Minerva which was found in a margarine tub in Hailey, Oxfordshire'. Yep. But actually, Mr Jackman, the public have a right to that information. The past is not yours alone to have and hide.

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